The Procurement Awards – Beyond Saving

Admin AdminMag 25, 2016

The assignment of the first Italian awards for procurement occurred on May 19th.

The awards ceremony was held at the UniCredit Pavilion, the Conference Centre designed by architect De Lucchi, inserted in the new city heart of Milan, in the Garibaldi Porta Nuova district.
Around one hundred of top procurement professionals from major companies operating in Italy accepted the invitation of The Procurement, Valeo-in and i-Faber, a UniCredit Group company, main partner of the initiative, giving life to this contest.
Among dozens and dozens of projects submitted, the jury chose the following winners:

Category: Ethical and Sustainable ProcurementWinner: OmalProject: “Empowered Butterfly“, which tied the corporate values ​​of attention not only to price but also to the social and environmental impact of purchasing, partnering with a Chinese supplier.

Category: Best Practices in negotiationWinner: Pietro FiorentiniProject: “Improving negotiation performance of purchases“, which consolidated the negotiating process through the implementation of a web-intranet tool.

Category: Innovation of purchasesWinner: LavazzaProject: “Innovation“, which involved suppliers as an active part in a project of strategic innovation and cost reduction.

Category: Purchasing by cross-functional teamsWinner: Pietro FiorentiniProject: “A motivating travel policy“, which conjugated savings for the company and satisfaction of the travelling staff contributing to the achievement of this goal.

The awards were presented by their sponsors: Right Hub for sustainability, Scotwork for negotiation, Carlson Wagonlit Travel for innovation and i-Faber itself for team purchases. The e-procurement company belonging to the UniCredit Group, in addition to supporting the initiative as a whole, in fact wanted to sponsor the closest category to its everyday practice. But not only this; i-Faber also created a Special Award, granted to Barilla for the “Sustainable farming” project, marked by strategic purchasing management in order to promote the Italian sustainable supply chains of durum wheat.
This first edition of the Awards – which will be renovated and upgraded as early as next year – has confirmed the role of our magazine in enhancing the contribution of procurement to the companies in the public sector as well as in the private one.
The fundamental collaboration with Valeo-in and the partnership with i-Faber showed once again how valuable synergies may enhance the potential of individual actors, to the benefit of the entire sector.